Meet the Sisters Behind St. Augustine’s New Zaría Simply Mediterranean

Some restaurant stories start with a business plan. Zaría Simply Mediterranean started with a family. The new restaurant on South Ponce de Leon Boulevard is the vision of three sisters: Nina, Bela and Bemal, who grew up in a large Kurdish family, where cooking was part of everyday life. Now, St. Augustine gets a seat at their family table.

Zaría Simply Mediterranean opened at 415 S. Ponce de Leon Blvd., near Rivers Edge Marina this spring, serving the Kurdish and Middle Eastern flavors the sisters grew up with. The restaurant is women-owned and family-run, with the sisters describing their concept as an extension of their own family table. For them, opening Zaría is a way to share the food, traditions and hospitality that have shaped their family for generations with the St. Augustine community.

From a Family of 12 Sisters

Nina Taha is one of 12 sisters, so she knows a thing or two about cooking for a crowd. Growing up, meals were a family affair, with plenty of food, conversation and people around the table.

You can taste that family history in the food. The menu is filled with dishes meant to be shared: hummus, baba ghanoush, tabbouleh, pickled vegetables, warm naan, grilled meats, falafel and flatbreads. Many of the restaurant's staples are made in-house, including the naan, sauces and yogurt.

Their Kurdish heritage gives Zaría its identity, from the dishes they grew up eating to the flavors and ingredients that make the menu distinctly their own.

The Dish to Know: Lahmacun

One of the most interesting things to order at Zaría is lahmacun, a thin, crisp flatbread topped with minced meat, tomatoes, peppers, parsley and Mediterranean spices.

Served with fresh lemon, herbs, vegetables and sumac onions, the traditional way to eat it is especially fun: add the toppings, squeeze over some lemon and roll the whole thing up.

Nina specifically highlighted lahmacun when talking about the food she wanted to bring to St. Augustine, along with lentil soup served with homemade flatbread. The introduction to the restaurant's Kurdish influence feels both approachable and distinctly different from the usual Mediterranean menu.

Everything Starts With the Bread

Zaría makes its naan fresh every day, and it finds its way into almost every part of the meal. Begin your meal enjoying fresh hummus with warm naan, smoked eggplant baba ghanoush with naan and a mezze sampler that brings together several dips, tabbouleh and pickled vegetables.

For the main course, chicken shawarma, chicken or beef shish kebab, falafel and tender slices of seasoned lamb doner can be served in bowls or wrapped in house-made naan with fresh vegetables and a garlic, yogurt and dill sauce.

The menu is made for everyday eating, whether you’re grabbing a shawarma wrap for lunch, sharing a mezze platter with friends or bringing home dinner for the family. It’s the kind of food that works just as well for a quick meal as it does for settling in around the table.

Look for the Kurdish Tea

The drinks offer another glimpse into the sisters’ heritage. Zaría serves Kurdish black tea, slow-brewed and served hot, along with Kurdish cardamom and mint tea. There is also mint lemonade made with garden mint, raspberry iced tea and Ava Mast, a house-made yogurt drink.

Those details are easy to overlook, especially when a menu is filled with shawarma and kebabs, but they are part of what makes the restaurant feel connected to the sisters' heritage.

Why St. Augustine?

There is something fitting about Zaría landing in St. Augustine. The restaurant sits just south of the historic district, in a part of town that has become increasingly interesting for independent restaurants and local businesses. Its South Ponce location near Rivers Edge Marina puts it outside the usual downtown dining circuit, expanding locals' dining rotation.

Zaría adds another chapter with a unique family story to St. Augustine - a restaurant scene shaped by generations of people bringing their traditions to the table: from Minorcan dishes and Spanish influences to Southern cooking, seafood and the many cultures represented here today.

The restaurant may be new to St. Augustine, but the idea behind it is generations old: make good food, make plenty of it, put it on the table and invite people in. That is exactly what the sisters are doing.

Zaría Simply Mediterranean
415 S. Ponce de Leon Blvd.
St. Augustine
Monday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–9 p.m.; closed Sunday
904-566-8360